Feature
Robi Debate Championship 2010:
An Explosion of Logic
Mottakin Chowdhury
THE Theatre Institute Chittagong (TIC) recently hosted a battle of logic and intelligence through which we can dream of change and prosperity. Drishty Chittagong is one of the most remarkable and renowned cultural organisations of Bangladesh which has been arranging debate competitions and workshops, recitation programmes, science fairs and Math Olympiads, business case competitions, brain storming contest and some other extra curricular activities since 1993. As a consequence of organising of so many events, this year Drishty completed English debate contest, which was the 10th arrangement of such kind of competition.
The contest was entitled 'Robi Debate Championship 2010' where 1st children debate, 10th inter school debate and 4th inter university debate tournaments were held. The whole programme continued from 4 to 8 May. A workshop was arranged on 3 May with a view to training up the debaters which was constructed in Asians Format. On 4 May 2010, the highly anticipated debate championship started at the auditorium of TIC with a hope to spread the light of logic and to build an enlightened society.
The inauguration ceremony saw the presence of Chief Guest, Dr. Shamol Kanti Biswas, Vice Chancellor of Chittagong University of Engineering & Technology (CUET). Jashim Uddin Chowdhury, Managing Director of The Daily Purbokone, inaugurated the championship. Safia Rahman, Principal, Sunshine Grammar School and College also delivered speech in the occasion. The inauguration session was chaired by Drishty President, Masud Bakul and moderated by Afsana Toma, Debate Secretary, Drishty Ctg.
Nine debates of the first round of inter school debate competition were held in the auditorium after the inauguration was finished. All the participating teams had to perform debates instantly where motions were given just before thirty minutes.
The teams that partook in school debate were: Radiant School, Mastermind International School, Summerfield's School, Sunshine Grammar School, William Carey Academy, Cider International School, Chittagong Grammar School and Chittagong Sunshine School, Global Scholar School, Standard School, Orbit School.
All the debaters of school level performed very impulsively on motions like 'this house believes that Boxing should be banned' or 'this house believes that Hollywood movies have bad influence on the world'.
By performing excellent battle of logic, Chittagong Grammar School, Cider International School, Radiant School and William Carey Academy qualified to the semi final.
On 5 May 2010, first round of 1st Children Debate and semifinal round of 10th Inter School Debate were held at the TIC gallery. The schools that qualified for the championship in children debate competition were William Carey Academy, Cider International School, Sunshine Grammar School and Child Heaven School. After a tough battle, William Carey Academy and Cider International School qualified as the finalists. The topics of children debate were 'village is better than town' and 'cricket is more exciting than football'.
On the other hand, in the semi final round of school debate, Cider International School and Chittagong Grammar School respectively knocked William Carey Academy and Radiant School out of their route to the final. The motions of this round were 'this house believes that businesses should not place advertisements in schools' and 'this house believes that European Union is more successful than United Nations'.
It was on 6 May when 1st and semi final round of university debate was held at Sunshine Grammar School. The teams which participated at the contest in order to grasp the title and accomplish their goal were: North South University (NSU), Chittagong University-1 (CU-1), Chittagong University-2 (CU-2), SLP-Chittagong University (SLP-CU), International Islamic University Chittagong (IIUC), University of Science and Technology Chittagong-1 (USTC-1), University of Science and Technology Chittagong-2 (USTC-2), Chittagong University of Science and Technology (CUET) and Finance and Banking Debating Association (FBDA). NSU, IIUC, CU-1 and CUET qualified as semi finalists by knocking out other teams from their path. At last, after a combat of logic and rebuttal, NSU and CU-1 could have access to the finale. In varsity debate contest, Sinha Ibna Humayun (NSU), Motiur Rahman Bijoy (CU-1), Badruddoza Jewel (CU-1), Abu Sufian Mohammed Khaled (SLP-CU), Shamsujjaman (IIUC) and Mutmainnah Hasib (USTC-1) achieved the title of best speakers in first and semi final round.
In the school debate contest, Shafkat Fahmid, Intifar Chowdhury, Aiman Hoque and Arifa Rashid Chowdhury were selected as best speakers in the first two steps towards the final.
The final rounds of the contest and the prize giving ceremony were held at the TIC auditorium on the 8th of May.
In the final round of children's debate, William Carey Academy spoke in favour of the topic 'fairy tales are not for children' and got defeated by their opposition Cider International School. The best speaker was adjudged to be the leader of the opposition Mariah Aziz. This debate of final round was presided over by Shuvash Chandra Roy, Chairman, Department of Pharmacy, USTC.
A very equally competitive battle of logic and words took place between Cider International School and Chittagong Grammar School in the school debate final. The government team Cider International School defeated Chittagong Grammar School supporting the motion 'this house believes that Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is a myth for Bangladesh.' The best debater was named the opposition leader Intifar Chowdhury. The speaker of the session was Tanvir Hafiz, Former debater, Stamford University.
In the final round of inter varsity debate, NSU supported the motion 'this house would never place restrictions on freedom of speech' and conquered the championship title beating CU-1. Sinha Ibna Humayun, the leader of the government team was elected the best speaker by the panel of the judges. Mr. Adnan Mannan, Lecturer, Department of Biotechnology and Biochemistry, USTC was the speaker of this session.
The prize giving ceremony was presided over by Safia Rahman, Chairman, Drishty Debate Club, Masud Bakul, Drishty president and moderated by Adnan Mannan, Joint Secretary, Drishty Ctg. The chief guest of the ceremony was Dr. Afsarul Amin, Minister, Primary and Mass Education Ministry.
(Mottakin Chowdhury,Debater and Member,Drishty Chittagong.)
The Super League
Ramin Ahmed
UNIVERSITY Super League (USL) is a semi-annual cricket event of Independent University, Bangladesh where eight teams played twenty-eight matches in total with each other in a league formation; apart from the semi-finals and the final. All the teams have been franchised to the faculty members who are now part of USL and they have selected their players through an open auction. The Spring 2010 season started on 9th of May 2010 and ended on 13th of May 2010 and within those five days of fierce cricket, the Financial Tyrants came out as champions of this season with Econo-Misers as the runner-up.
(Student of BBA, IUB)
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